Hideous Retribution
by 23blenders
Summary: Pit clutched his suffering twin, desperately begging Dart to stop crying. But there was nothing Pit could do. There never was. Over and over again, he is forced to watch the people he loves die in terrible ways, never able to stop the pain. All the while Hades stands by laughing delightedly at his anguish. Anguish he inflicted as revenge for his exile at Pit's hands.
1. Chapter 1

**I've been having some discussions with Sleepwalker48 about how we like to see our favorite characters tortured for whatever reason. Well, I had a few ideas up my sleeve and decided to go with it. This is the disturbing result that I whipped up in just one morning, so it probably isn't my best work. I considered sticking this or something similar into my longer running fic, Twin Angels, but since I have no intention of returning Hades to that story, this has no place. Even though it's not happening in the other fic, this little bit will be using my iterations of the characters from there. Mostly, this means that means DP's name is Dart. Enjoy, if you're as strange as I am and like to read this sort of thing every now and then.**

* * *

Dawn had just broken.

Not that Pit could see it. He hadn't seen the sun rise in…how long had it been? Oh yeah, about a month.

He heard all about it every day.

In fact, he couldn't see anything now. He never could during the downtime. That made the times when he was taken out all the worse. The Light, which was Pit's ally, had become one of his worst enemies since he was captured.

The small angel was curled as tightly as he could, his tattered wings wrapped around him to trap in whatever warmth he managed to create. It wasn't much, Pit was always cold. He didn't try to uncurl except to drink the water that was sometimes pushed into his cell. Food was never given to him, just water. At least his stomach had stopped growling just a couple days after arriving, so that didn't add to the pain caused by the bruises, cuts, burns, broken bones that he had endured.

Pit didn't look up when he heard his cell being opened. There was no point, moving would just use what little energy he had and he wouldn't see anything, anyway. The chains attached to his wrists jerked him across the floor suddenly. They would continue to pull his aching body by his wrists across the floor, down hallways, to the presence of his captor. Pit would have walked, but starvation had taken his ability to stand on his own, let alone walk. He could crawl, which would be demonstrated later, but it wasn't worth exerting himself now.

Starvation had also taken whatever padding of fat he'd had before, and the floor scraped the skin off the places like his knees that were bony.

The dragging stopped, and he was hauled by his wrists into a kneeling position. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the visage of the person he hated most in the world, but was surprised that he could still see nothing.

A second later, he wished he had kept them closed.

A blinding light flashed suddenly, painful under normal circumstances, but excruciating to his light deprived eyes. Any light hurt him because of the prolonged darkness that they were used to, but this caused Pit to scream in pain, and he couldn't cover them because he was still chained. He could only wait for the pain to subside.

"Is that better, Pitty? I've been told you never get to see any light, I thought you'd appreciate some."

Pit said nothing.

"Speechless, are we? We'll fix that soon enough, don't worry."

Pit knew he would. He'd done it every day, hadn't he? In fact, the only reason Pit knew how long he'd been here was because Hades had made a point of telling him how long it had been. How long since he'd seen his goddess, his brother. How long Palutena had neglected to rescue him.

Hades walked over to him with a bowl of hot spring water. He was deceptively gentle as he used a cloth soaked in the water to heal the injuries from yesterday. This was the routine. Pit kept his injuries for the full day, had them healed, then Hades gave him new ones. This gave Hades endless opportunities to cause him pain while preventing his death from infection or accumulated injuries. Although if Hades planned to keep him alive to torture him, why wasn't he getting food, it occurred to him to wonder.

Hades heard the question. He was no more than a soul, as Pit had killed Hades' original body. As the god of the Underworld deep within his own realm, he could manifest here and sometimes sense and hear Pit's thoughts, his feelings, his fears. It was how he was able to cause him more pain.

"You want food, Pitty Pat? You're right, I'd be able to have more fun with you if you stayed alive. But my energy is limited, I used up almost all of it just getting you. And believe me, that was no simple task. I did that, but I have no strength left to get any food to keep my toy alive. So I'll just enjoy torturing you while you last. But ah, death won't be a release for you, will it? Your soul will stay right here, with me."

Hades grinned cruelly.

"Your dear brother would die too, wouldn't he? Pitooey won't have any warning, he'll just drop dead. Oh, how your goddess will mourn."

"That's Dart to you!" Pit said, the slight to his brother pulling the first words out of him today.

"Not just your own goddess," Hades continued, "But Viridi as well. I think she might actually cry. Especially since they'd both know you died painfully, with no comfort to ease your passing. They'll even know how you died, since your dark twin knows your condition all too well."

Pit looked up at him, confused.

"Oh, did you forget, Pitty? He can feel some of your pain. I've been watching them all. Their anguish on your behalf is so gratifying. I won't get my body back anytime soon, but at least I can drag you down with me. Leaving your twin was an excellent idea. If you'd both disappeared, they'd have no idea what was happening to you. With him left behind, they know exactly how much pain you're in."

Pit was suddenly whacked in the ribs with a club of some sort, forcing a squeak from him. He quickly cut it short, gritting his teeth.

"I'm somewhat surprised that you're able to keep almost silent. Let's see if you brother can do the same."

Hades waved his hand, and Dart appeared, chained the same way Pit was. He gave one horrified glance to Pit before his attention was taken by Hades, who wasted no time in delivering an equally harsh blow. Pit heard the impact, followed quickly by a surprised yell.

Dart spoke no words, though.

Pit knew it wasn't really him. The scene didn't wrench his heart any less for that, though. Hades had come up with this trick early on. Whether or not it was actually happening, Pit couldn't stand to see someone he loved be hurt. He'd do anything to stop it. So, nearly every day Hades would create the image of Dart, or Palutena, or Viridi. He would 'torture' it, then at some point release Pit. And Pit would go to the illusion's defense. Every single time.

He knew it wouldn't help anything. But it stopped them crying out, and hearing Lady Palutena screaming in agony hurt more than any beating Hades could dish out. Dart always looked so pleadingly at him, eyes begging for help. And Viridi cried. Sometimes it was the little girl that had picked up Pit's ring. Her high pitched wails were the most haunting of all.

They never spoke words, Hades didn't have the power to totally imitate them. Pit was grateful for that. They could only scream, but it was enough to make his heart ache.

Dart turned to Pit. Hades had opened a gash on his forehead, and the blood was running down his face. A groan escaped his lips as Hades punched him in the gut. Suddenly, with a ripping sound, his body jerked violently and his mouth opened as he tried to shriek. It didn't work because his vocal chords couldn't produce the pitch he was trying to reach. Blood began splattering on the floor behind him as Hades silently held up a black wing in triumph. Pit's eyes were wide with horror and he provided the scream that Dart could not.

Hades smiled at the sound, then released the chains and Dart fell to the floor in agony. A hot iron appeared out of nowhere, and Hades stepped on Dart's lower back to hold him down and pressed the iron to the bleeding wing stump, so as to prolong his 'life' by the few minutes he needed. The shriek wasn't silent this time, and even Hades frowned at the discomfort it caused his ears. The smell of boiling blood and charred flesh reached Pit's nostrils and he retched.

The bleeding stopped, Hades snapped his fingers to release Pit. Then he stepped back to watch the show.

Pit crawled over to his dying brother and picked him up, ignoring Hades' horrible grin.

"Dart." he murmured, and the red eyes focused on him. They looked so betrayed, like they were asking "How could you let this happen to me?"

"I'm so sorry." Pit said in response to the imagined accusation, tears pouring down his face. "I won't let you be hurt anymore." he promised. He promised the same thing to Viridi yesterday. He also broke that promise. And every one before that. Down here, he was powerless to keep his word.

Suddenly, Hades' grin widened. He had an idea. How had he never thought of this before? Usually, he'd just go over there and beat the crap out of Pit, who would use his own body to cover whoever it was he'd 'killed' that day. But he still had strength for an illusion or two.

Pit was still cradling Dart's suffering body when he saw a radiant being approach him. He looked up…

"Lady Palutena?!" Pit cried out in shock.

She smiled gently at him, then turned her attention to his bloodied twin. She reached down and touched his slowly heaving chest.

Then her hand pressed down on it to restrain him and her other fist slammed down on his stomach, a knife held in its grasp.

Pit stared in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Dart began to jerk weakly. Pit looked blankly at Palutena again, and she smiled wickedly back at him. She turned her face to the dying angel again and slowly twisted the knife.

Dart used the last of his strength to whimper in pain. Pit used the last of his to lurch away, as he couldn't bring himself to hit Palutena. She didn't follow, her work done for the moment.

Or rather, his. Because, of course, this was Hades disguised as Pit's beloved goddess.

Dart continued to whimper and cry in pain, and Pit began to sob in response.

"Don't cry. Please, don't cry. It'll be alright. You'll be ok, you won't hurt anymore. Please stop crying."

Pit kept begging Dart to stop crying, all the while crying himself.

A minute later, he did stop crying.

When Pit saw the dead eyes staring back at him, he gently closed them and buried his face in his chest, sobbing.

'Palutena' grinned widely.

After a bit, she spoke with Hades' voice.

"Your pain is so delightful, Pitty Pat. I just can't get enough of it."

Pit's tear stained face came up and turned to face her.

"I-I know you're n-not Lady P-Palutena." he said shakily. Another sob escaped him.

Hades ignored this. He strode up to the pair and roughly pulled the dead angel from Pit, and gave the body a vicious kick.

"No! Don't touch him!" Pit cried out.

"He's not even real. Why do you bother to grieve over him? Even after all these weeks? I don't mind, as it makes my revenge all the sweeter, but it is rather confusing."

"I can't help it." moaned Pit, his eyes locked on his dead brother.

Hades kicked Dart again. Pit cried out again, and lurched over to shield Dart's body from the blows.

Hades laughed cruelly at Pit. He always did at this point, it was simply hysterical to see the little angel's pathetic attempts to protect the people he loved, even when he'd already failed and they were dead.

His next kick got Pit in the ribs. It was hard enough that he heard a crack. He'd really have to control that, it wasn't the first time he'd broken one of Pit's bones. The hot spring water wouldn't fix those, and untreated as they were they'd kill him more quickly. He wanted to milk his revenge for all it was worth.

But it did provide easy pain buttons.

Hades located an older break, and slowly ground his fist onto it.

Pit started squeaking, then as the pain increased so did the volume. By the end, his screams were echoing through the caverns.

Hades pulled the knife from the 'body' and slashed shallowly at Pit, creating painful but non-fatal wounds. Pit cried out at each one, but wouldn't move so as to prevent the damage from being done to his 'twin'.

So silly of him.

Of course, if that didn't work, Hades would simply hit him without bothering with the illusion. But since this worked so nicely on the angel, he went through the effort to cause Pit as much grief as he could.

Next, he used the iron to cauterize each of the wounds he had created, delighting in the agonized screams this brought forth.

Eventually, Pit stopped screaming from weakness. He was only aware of his general pain and the cold body he was still clutching protectively.

His arms were pried off and chained again. He was dragged back along the floor. Pit was unconscious by the time he was back in his dark cell.

Hades used Pit's connection with his twin to spy. He chuckled to see Dart lying curled up on his bed, shuddering horribly at the ghost of the anguish he was receiving from Pit.

Of course, Palutena, Dart, and Viridi were all frantically trying to locate Pit. But Hades had transported him beyond where Palutena could remotely search. If they found him, Hades wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight.

But they'd have to find him, and Pit didn't have much time left. Hades smiled. It looked like his revenge would be complete.


	2. Chapter 2

Dart stood with a small pack and a bow, staring at the hole in the ground. He'd been torn between looking for Pit and keeping an eye on Palutena, hoping that Pit could escape on his own. Pit is a strong person. But with time ticking he knew that Pit didn't have long left. At which point what Dart did would be moot. So he left a note and snuck out, taking the Lightning Chariot and following the connection he shared with his twin. It was faint, which meant Pit was far away.

Dart had left shortly after the distraught goddess of Light had gone to bed. With Pit gone, she clung tightly to the dark angel, whom she saw as her second son and loved as much as she did Pit. He let her, since he'd settled into the role over time. She'd walked him to his room that night, terrified that he'd vanish like Pit had.

Of course, he'd done just that. He had no choice, though. If Pit died, she'd walk in to see his lifeless body, instead.

He'd left his laurels behind, too.

If he had them on him, she'd almost definitely pull him back despite the logic of his actions.

So the night passed uneventfully, the link to Pit growing ever so slowly.

The day passed even more slowly as lack of sleep caught up to him. But he wanted to make it difficult for Viridi to find him, as well since she was equally irrational about the situation and might capture him, too. He eventually slept, and two days later he'd pinpointed where Pit's signal was coming from. He let the unicorns loose, they'd stay in the area until he returned.

If he returned.

It was just after dawn, and he'd begun to feel the shadow of the pain that Pit suffered each morning. He tried to ignore it and stepped into the opening in the ground.

The trip down was uneventful, Dart using his bond with his twin to navigate. He also made sure to mark his path, putting scratches in the wall. Doing this did not dull his weapon, as one might think. One of the many benefits of divine weapons. Another was that his arrows shed light, allowing him to see his way.

When the bond indicated that Pit was quite near, things started to get interesting.

Dart came upon a cavern that seemingly had only one opening, the one he came through. Pit's signal showed that he was through here, but there was no way out. Dart frowned, wondering if there'd been a fork somewhere he'd missed. Running his journey through his mind, he couldn't find anything. He slowly walked to the wall closest to Pit. He scrutinized it for a minute before laying a hand on it.

His hand went right through.

Dart jerked his hand back in surprise. He hesitantly tried again, this time putting his whole arm 'in' the rock. He put his arm to the side, and felt a wall he couldn't see. He took a deep breath, then stepped through.

A fake wall, then?

Dart took a moment to wonder why that was there, then realized that he must be close. In fact, he already knew he was close. That wall was the first of the defenses.

Dart walked confidently down the pathway and emerged in another cavern.

Only to be faced with an enormous reaper!

Dart gasped and hid in the passage again. He peeked out after a moment, relieved to find that the reaper had not seen him. The doorway was behind the reaper, but how would he get there without gaining its attention?

Well, the only thing to do was to try. Luckily, reapers have awful tunnel vision. Dart watched its head carefully, then snuck out in such a way as to avoid the areas it searched the most.

He moved slowly, deliberately, and hope that he'd avoid having to fight that monster was rising. He was nearly there!

But of course, he's not gonna get there without his whole plan going to pieces. Just because the reaper tended to look in certain spots didn't mean it never looked at other places.

Dart saw it moving its head to look in his direction, and his whole body tensed up in anticipation of his imminent discovery.

It looked straight at him, then continued turning as if nothing was there.

Dart blinked, not moving from his spot.

What the?

The reaper's gaze swept over him again, again not paying attention to him.

He stayed still for another minute, trying to puzzle this out. Perhaps it, too, was fake. Like the wall. In which case, all the sneaking had been unnecessary. He facepalmed at the thought, his first movement since he'd stopped here.

Even if that were true, still no point tempting fate. Dart made his way to the doorway, sneaky as ever.

He went through another winding passage, finally arriving at another large cavern. Dart stopped, looking for the defense in this one. When he saw nothing, he slowly approached the other end of the room. When he reached the middle, he stopped in shock. A silhouette had appeared, along with a familiar laugh.

"Well well, Dark Pitty Pat. I was hoping to see you here."

"Hades?" Dart spat out.

"The one and only!" Hades boasted, having fully materialized.

"Where's Pit!" Dart demanded to know.

"What, to business already? You sure you don't want to stay for some coffee, or something?" Hades inquired, smirking.

"Like I'd take anything you offered me. I want my brother. Where is he?!" Dart asked again.

Hades pointed to the far end of the room. Light appeared, revealing a form curled up on the floor. There was a moment of silence. That had been too easy.

"Pit?" Dart asked, stepping towards him. Pit looked up, blue eyes wide, then stood up quickly, grinning. Dart smiled slightly in relief, although a red flag went up. This really was way too easy. Dart began to approach Pit when Hades slid past him. Pit's eyes barely managed to flicker to Hades before the god kicked him in the stomach, not unlike how Dart had kicked him upon their first meeting.

Both twins cried out at the same time, Pit in pain and Dart in anger. Dart shot forward, catching Hades with a surprise kick that sent him sprawling, and ran to kneel next to Pit. He touched the angel's shoulder, and Pit looked up at him, gasping.

"Hey Pit, you alright?" Dart mumbled. Pit said nothing, letting his head slump to the floor again. Dart frowned. Something seemed off about the whole thing. Pit normally would be trying to reassure his brother that he was alright, and Dart didn't need to worry about him. He'd be trying desperately to at least give his twin a brief hug after such a separation, if not flat out clinging to him.

During Dart's distraction, Hades had approached and suddenly jerked Pit away. Dart paused in his train of thought to deal with the problem at hand. Hades had been remarkably fast, and he and his victim were on the other side of the room. Hades stepped on Pit's chest and forced the air out of his lungs. Dart could see Pit's hands fly to his throat and flutter uselessly there as he vainly tried to draw breath.

Dart was running to them in this time, but Hades flung lines out at him. They cut across his front like whips, causing his blood to dot the floor around him. He backed up yelling, hands over his face, before forcing the pain from his mind and looking up.

Just in time to see Hades bring a massive knife down on Pit's right arm.

The arm was severed instantly, blood pooling under the angel. Pit started making these short wheezing noises, unable to fill his lungs enough to shout because Hades still had his foot on him. Dart's mind was blank with horror as he tried to throw Hades off. But Hades vanished, leaving Dart to scramble to stay upright and finally allowing Pit to scream. He turned around and was about to grab Pit when Hades reappeared and jerked him away again.

Half a second later, Pit's scream choked off. Blood was leaking from his mouth, the result of the huge, irreparable slash going from his chest to his abdomen. Hades, his job done, backed off.

Dart desperately picked his brother up, but Pit was making an awful gurgling noise and throwing his head back and forth, trying to breathe around the blood in his mouth and lungs. Dart tried holding him at an angle to allow the blood to clear his mouth, and almost vomited at the sight of Pit's severed arm.

Dart set Pit on his left side and moved in front of Pit so he could see his face. The suffering blue eyes flicked to his.

"Oh god, Pit." Dart murmured, laying his hand on the side of Pit's head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't come get you sooner. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry this happened to you. You don't deserve it."

Pit smiled weakly at him, and used his remaining hand to grasp the hand that Dart had laid on his face. Dart gave it a squeeze.

Pit didn't return the gesture, though. He gave a little cough, bringing up more blood. His eyes were slowly shutting and his breathing was shallower. Before Dart could think of anything else to say to him, Pit became still.

Dart stared in shock, unable to process what just happened. His mouth opened and closed a few times, as he tried to say something.

"Pit!" he rasped, shaking the other angel. Of course he didn't respond. "Pit!"

Dart spent the next minute calling to Pit, wanting him to do anything, say anything. Finally, laughter registered in Dart's awareness.

He looked and saw that Hades was the source of the laughter.

"You're just as funny to watch as Pitty is!" he exclaimed between guffaws.

Rage filled that dark angel. He didn't bother to retort. He shot up and caught Hades by surprise, his blade sinking right between Hades' eyes.

Hades slid to the floor, gasping.

"Such a passionate response, and that wasn't even the real Pit."

Dart backed off, his eyes widening. Not the real Pit. He looked down at his hands. He was still alive. He searched his bond. It told him that Pit was nearby.

Dart turned and slowly approached Pit's body. He had to look to the side, unable to look at the still face. However now that he was focusing on his connection, he could tell that Pit was not in this room. Dart turned around sharply.

"What do you mean, I'm just as funny to watch as Pit is?!" he demanded to know.

Hades simply laughed, too weak to say anything. Dart snarled and kicked him in the head as hard as he could. Even in his weak state, Hades can't be killed using such mundane means. Even angelic weapons aren't enough to completely eradicate him. So all Dart did was knock him out. Dart surveyed the downed Lord of the Underworld, then retrieved his blade, cleaning it off on Hades' clothes.

Dart went through the door he hadn't been through yet. Right before he completely left the room, he glanced back at the body he had believed was Pit's… only to find it had vanished. He stared for a moment, his hope at finding Pit alive rising, and hurried down the corridor. He followed his link to a cell, which he broke into using his powerful bow. He pulled out an arrow, whose light revealed a curled up form that he knew without a doubt was his brother.

Dart fell to his knees and touched one of Pit's half bald wings, whispering his name. When Pit didn't respond, Dart quickly cut open the chains and carefully lifted Pit, taking him out of the room lest Hades still have another trick up his sleeve. Pit was entirely too light for Dart's liking, and felt horribly bony. He was going to set Pit down right outside the cell, but decided to make a run for it instead. He wanted Pit out of here. So he ran, not giving in to the temptation to reassure Pit when he heard him moan. Past the still unconscious Hades, past the room which no longer held a reaper. Past the room whose doorway he could now see. Dart kept running, holding tightly onto his brother until he couldn't run any longer. Then he walked until he simply couldn't hold Pit in his arms anymore.

Dart finally set Pit down, and sat down next to him to rest for a bit. After he caught his breath, Dart looked over Pit. He was sickened at Pit's condition. He was skinny beyond recognition, his skin pale in the spots that weren't colored blue, or green, or an angry red. Pit's breathing was ragged, his clothes torn, and he had cuts and burns all over him. Dart wasn't sure he wanted to wake Pit up at all, but he had stolen several drinks of the gods in preparation for this rescue and saw that the angel desperately needed something, now.

He propped Pit up in his arms, and called to him.

"Pit! Hey! C'mon, wake up!"

Pit responded to the voice he hadn't heard since he was captured. His eyes opened and he took in the fact that he was seeing his brother, not bound and being brutally murdered, but holding him.

"Dart?" he whispered.

"Yes, Pit. It's me."

Pit smiled, and slowly wrapped his thin arms around the dark angel. He let out a contented sigh when Dart pulled him closer using the arm that wasn't supporting him. He knew that Pit would fall asleep again, though, and he had to get some of the drink into him. Dart reached out and grabbed the bottle.

"Hey, Pit. Hey." he spoke softly until Pit turned his attention to him.

"Drink this." he commanded, holding the bottle to Pit's lips. Pit's eyes widened, and he drank a few mouthfuls eagerly, but had to stop because his stomach had shrunk with disuse.

Dart waited until Pit had drunk the whole bottle before starting off again. He would have liked to let Pit rest, and himself too, but he wanted out of there. So, despite his exhaustion he took off his outer tunic and used it to tie Pit to his back, then set off again.

Despite his determination, Dart had to stop before they reached the surface. In fact, it took significantly longer to get out than it had for Dart to reach Hades' lair, since he was moving upwards and carrying Pit as well. Pit subsisted completely on drinks of the gods during this time, and to Dart's relief, they had a noticeable effect even in that short time. Pit was still a long way from walking, but he could sit up and hold the drink himself.

It was midnight the next night when they arrived at the surface, the sky covered in stars. Pit was asleep on Dart's back again, so he woke him up to see it.

"Pit, look. You're free." he said softly. Pit looked up, and took in the view.

"I thought I'd never see the sky again." Pit murmured. Dart untied him and set him down on the grass, then lay down next to him to enjoy the view and the fresh air.

About two minutes later, the unicorns found the angels and nuzzled them. Pit laughed weakly, and tried to hug one of them. The unicorns were very happy to see Pit after his long absence.

Their ride back to Skyworld was uneventful, although it took everything Dart had to stop and let the unicorns rest. He wanted to get back home, get Pit back home. Although as they got closer, he began to feel apprehensive about the lecture he knew he'd get. Palutena would probably hug him, too. Hopefully he'd be able to shift most of her attention to Pit, though.

Dart timed their arrival for shortly after midnight, so as to avoid Palutena for as long as possible. It worked, surprisingly, until he'd gotten to their rooms. He knew how to sneak around Skyworld and avoid centurions, so they hadn't seen him. In fact, Palutena wouldn't have found out until morning (which Dart had been hoping for) if a centurion hadn't noticed the unicorns and the Lightning Chariot back where they belonged. He notified her, and she rushed straight to Dart's room.

The door slammed open, and Palutena almost started crying right then and there when she saw his bed empty. Like it had been every time she'd checked since he'd left. She slumped against the doorframe in bitter disappointment. Then she looked more closely, and saw his bed stripped of all its blankets and pillows.

Palutena moved down the hallway to check Pit's room. She didn't allow herself to hope, as she'd been checking here too since her angels had vanished.

Dart was awakened after about five minutes of sleep by Palutena's cry of joy, followed by her gathering the dark angel in her arms. He was on the floor of Pit's room, unable to make himself leave his twin alone. He still felt like if he took his eyes off Pit, he'd vanish again.

He mumbled something about sleep, but Palutena ignored this.

"Dart, how could you?! First Pit vanished, then you just run off in the middle of the night and leave me a note! When you didn't show up in the morning -" she broke off, crying softly and pulling him closer.

"I had to. Pit was running out of time, I had to at least try to find him myself."

She was about to respond when they were interrupted by Pit's weak voice coming from the bed.

"Lady Palutena?"

Palutena looked at the bed, then at Dart's grinning face. She let him go, then stood to look at Pit.

"Oh, Pit." she breathed, relieved beyond belief to see him. He smiled, and reached for her with skeletal arms. Her heart broke at the sight of those arms as she gathered him up, holding her angel close and crying in joy, relief, and pain at his horribly frail body.

Palutena finally set him down after realizing that Pit had fallen asleep, his exhaustion winning out over his joy at being home and seeing his goddess again. She pulled the blanket up to his shoulders again, and brushed the hair off his face. She watched him for a moment, taking comfort at the sight of him safe again in his bed, then knelt down and wordlessly hugged the dark angel again. Finally, she reluctantly stood and left the room.

Dart stayed sitting for a moment, realizing that he was glad she'd come to see them. It had certainly made Pit happy, and of course knowing that both of them were home again took a weight off her mind.

Although he had initially been hoping that Palutena's attention would be focused on Pit, it made him happy that she didn't forget about him.

Then there's Viridi to deal with. She'll be nice to Pit, but probably quite vocal with Dart. Well, he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it. Dart glanced at Pit's sleeping form again before settling down to sleep. It's gonna be a long time before he stops compulsively checking to be sure Pit's still there.

* * *

**What, you thought I was gonna leave Pit there? I can only stand dark fics like these if the victim gets rescued at the end. Also, Sleepwalker48 threatened me if I killed Pit. I realize I just reused the same idea as last time, but I didn't write this for new ideas, I wrote this to see if I could do torture. I think I did reasonably well. Now it's really complete, I'm not adding to this.  
**


End file.
